Jan 07 2003
Luster’s a no-show in court Judge declares him a fugitive, then date-rape trial proceeds
Ventura County Star (California)
January 7, 2003 Tuesday
BYLINE: Aron Miller; amiller@insidevc.com
SECTION: News; Pg. A01
LENGTH: 827 words
The Andrew Luster date-rape trial continued Monday with one glaring absence — Andrew Luster.
The Max Factor heir failed to show up in court after a two-week break for the holidays, and the trial judge declared him a fugitive and issued a no-bail war-rant for his arrest.
“The chances of getting Mr. Luster back here may be slim,” Ventura County Su-perior Court Judge Ken Riley said.
Luster was last heard from Friday morning, when he checked in with the proba-tion officer monitoring his release on $1 million bail. When he didn’t call the officer when he was supposed to 12 hours later, the authorities got antsy.
Various police agencies were searching for him Monday, assuming he had fled because he anticipated being convicted and facing 150 years in prison.
But his defense attorney, Roger Diamond, was not ready to concede that his client skipped town voluntarily.
“We have a man who is presumed innocent who is not here this morning,”Diamond told the judge. “We do not know why he is not here. There are innocent explana-tions as to why, or it could be the opposite.”
Diamond continued that Luster could have been “kidnapped, harmed in some way” or was the victim of “a tragic accident.”
Riley wasn’t buying it. “Mr. Luster is the one who probably … fled the country,” he said. “He is gone, Mr. Diamond.”
In deciding to call Luster a fugitive, Riley took into account what detec-tives found — or did not find — when they served a search warrant on his Mus-sel Shoal home over the weekend.
When police entered the house, Luster was gone, as was his sport utility ve-hicle, his dog, most of his clothing and his treasured Chumash artifacts, Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox told the judge. The house was locked, the shades were drawn and a stack of unopened mail sat on a table.
Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold asked Riley to question the defense team about its knowledge of Luster’s whereabouts. Both of his attorneys said they had expected Luster to show up Monday and had no idea where he was.
Diamond called Luster “very optimistic” about how the trial was going for him, adding, “The last thing I wanted was for Mr. Luster not to be here today.”
Defense investigator Bill Pavelic declined to answer the judge’s questions, then, in an odd twist, took the witness stand and adamantly denied he had any-thing to do with Luster’s disappearance.
“It’s insulting that you would even ask that, and you know damn well that is not true,” Bill Pavelic told Wold.
After his testimony, he quit the case, citing how poorly he was treated in court.
Meanwhile, the trial continued without Luster, which can occur under state law if the defendant voluntarily does not appear in court.
When the jury returned to the courtroom, Riley carefully noted the empty chair at the defense table.
“One thing you are not to pay attention to is that we are proceeding today in Mr. Luster’s absence,” he said.
Luster, 39, Factor’s great-grandson, has pleaded not guilty to 87 criminal counts and is accused of using the drug gammahydroxybutyrate, or GHB, to knock out three women and rape them, videotaping two of the encounters.
His defense was that he was simply filming pornographic movies and the women were playacting.
Before the two-week break for the holidays, the jury already had viewed the first tape, which shows Luster performing various sex acts on a seemingly uncon-scious woman. Jurors also heard testimony from that woman.
On Monday, testimony continued with the playing of the second videotape, which offers much of the same activity as the first. The tape was seized soon after Luster’s July 2000 arrest. It is labeled “Shauna GHBing.”
The alleged victim was 17 when the tape was recorded. It shows her lying on her back in Luster’s bed.
During much of the tape, she is heard snoring loudly.
Luster describes for the camera how some people dream of Christmas and Thanksgiving, times to spend with loved ones.
“I dream of this,” he says. “A strawberry blonde passed out on my bed.”
Near the end of the tape, he continues. “Welcome to my room. What’s this?” he says, zooming in on an apparently passed-out Shauna. “That’s exactly what I like in my room. A passed-out, beautiful girl.”
Shauna, now 23, testified Monday she had no memory of the encounter and never had consensual sex with Luster, although they “made out” once in his Jacuzzi in 1996. The alleged rape occurred in December 1997.
When police told her she might be a rape victim and showed her the tape, she said she was shocked.
“It was very disgusting to me,” she said. “It was like seeing yourself raped in the third person and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Before excusing the jury for the day, Riley made an extra effort to remind them to avoid any news about the trial, noting there undoubtedly would be plenty of media attention today.
The case continues today in Courtroom 43, with or without Luster.
LOAD-DATE: January 14, 2003
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Defense team members listen Monday as Judge Ken Riley declares absen-tAndrew Luster to be a fugitive.
Matt McClain / Star staff
Matt McClain / Star staff
Defense attorneys Roger Diamond, left, and Kiana Sloan Hillier, right,turn to the courtroom audience as subpoenaed witnesses’ names are called tosee if they were present Monday. Between them is investigator Bill Pavelic,who later in the day quit the defense team.
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